


song #3

by monstermash



Category: Monsters (Interactive Fiction)
Genre: CJ is only mentioned, Canon-Typical Violence, I can guarantee that most of this will be, McCready is His Own Warning, Multi, Not Canon Compliant, Potential Spoilers, Pre-Relationship, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, by the next game update
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:55:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25770034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monstermash/pseuds/monstermash
Summary: None of them were. Are. Whatever.With how dark it is around them, no moon in the sky, it almost feels like they're driving through a black hole at the end of the universe.
Relationships: Adam & Grace (Monsters), Adam & Jack (Monsters), Adam & Sonya (Monsters), Adam/Jack (Monsters), April & Sonya (Monsters), Jack & Sonya (Monsters), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Past Jack/Sonya (Monsters), Sonya (Monsters)/Other(s)





	song #3

**Author's Note:**

> [here's a link to the demo](https://dashingdon.com/play/shawnreed343/monsters/mygame/monsters_compiled.html) and [to the forum thread.](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/monsters-wip-updated-04-27-17-link-is-updated/10492)
> 
> Monsters is a pretty... _unique_ game. challenging in a fun way, especially if you like the horror genre, though read at your own risk (if ya don't mind sorta spoilers i can give you a list of warnings before you read). its got the best use of pre-made characters i've seen in a cog game and that's saying something.
> 
> i use the pre-made Adam but add my own touch to the character, which means i've also adjusted/head-canoned character ages to make sense of the timeline since it's kinda vague in the demo other than the fact that it's supposed to take place during the summer of 2015.

Silence sits heavy in the sedan as Jack drives them down the highway, following McCready's van, and it's not for lack of trying on Sonya's part.

She's been trying to keep the mood from being too depressing, too tired, but Jack's just... exhausted? Wrung out?

Gary's dead and Adam's stuck in the trunk.

Not that Jack and Sonya didn't try to fight against that decision, but once Sean starts backing up His-Royal-Priggishness it's better for everyone involved to let things slide. Within reason, of course; there are some things - okay, a _lot_ of things - that shouldn't ever be given a jail out of free card, but being stuck in the same Family as McCready has been an active learning experience for Jack in picking his battles. It's not one that's always at the forefront of his mind, but still.

(April hadn't been much help, but she'd been pretty freaked out in her own way at the mention of weird nightmares of cocoons and creatures.)

"He'll be alright," Sonya says as she flips through the radio stations.

Sighing, Jack pushes his hair back. "I dunno. He seemed pretty pissed, and the Creed taping his mouth shut probably didn't help."

"You punched Adam out when we got to the camp and he didn't hold it against you," she points out, finally settling on some pop station. Top 40s. Not his first choice, but it's a helluva lot better than the Christian Gospel shit that McCready always listens to on these trips. On _the_ trip. "This won't upset him forever."

The only response Jack gives in response is a quiet _'hmm.'_ While that's true, it's not like Adam had a lot of time to decide if he wanted to hold a grudge over that since things kicked off pretty quickly afterwards. A lot quicker than the previous years, if he really thinks about it. And then the guy had been tied to the same chair that Jack had been tied to - that they'd _all_ been tied to at one point or another - and surrounded by people that had been trying to kill him just a few hours prior.

"Call it a hunch," Sonya says breezily. Warm summer air floods the car as she cracks the window. "Or, y'know, trust my judgement. I've known him longer than you have."

A fast paced beat blares out of the speakers, the singer crooning about a broken heart as the Midwest passes by.

\---

Long after the sun finally sets they pull off the highway, Jack following the van's taillights to a Conoco.

They both pull up to the gas pumps, van in front to block the view from the store, though the florescent lighting that spills out from it reveals the place to be empty. Aside from whoever is working the night shift of course.

"Time to see if our newest addition has calmed down," Sean says as he gets out of the van, April following not far behind him while McCready takes the car keys out of Jack's hand.

Here it is, the moment of truth. Okay, the moment of truth had actually been back in the basement with Gary, but this is the next one. Moment of Truth 2.0. Moment of Truth 2: Electric Boogaloo? The click of the trunk unlocking is enough to drag Jack from his thoughts, anticipation writhing in his stomach like a snake as he watches McCready lift the lid and—

A quick flash of movement, but there's no distinctive sound of skin violently meeting skin, just a strip of duct tape being thrown at McCready's chest before it flops sadly to the ground.

In all honesty, Jack's surprised Adam didn't come up swinging as soon as McCready'd popped the trunk.

Doesn't mean the guy isn't looking absolutely livid, and if looks could kill, well... the Creed wouldn't be more than a greasy smear staining the concrete right about now.

But the important part is that Adam doesn't make a sound, doesn't start causing a scene, now that his mouth isn't taped shut and that eases the tension that had settled over all of them.

Of course, McCready sneers and Sean has that passive expression he's always got, the one where Jack still can't work out if it means he's amused by whatever is going on or if he's about three seconds shy of stabbing someone.

"Can we let him out now?" Sonya asks, breaking the silence.

"So long as he's not left unsupervised, I don't see why not," Sean answers before McCready can get a word in.

"I'll keep an eye on him," Jack volunteers without even really thinking about it.

"Fine, cut him loose, but if he so much as steps a toe outta line he goes right back in," McCready says - more like commands - with narrowed eyes, like he's _hoping_ for Adam to mess up. And then McCready and Sean head towards the store, most likely to pay for the gas in cash. Another small, unofficial rule about these yearly trips; keep electronic transactions to a minimum. Can't be linked to crimes if they can't trace your movements.

Jack doesn't even bother to hide his eye roll at McCready, and steps in to start cutting away the duct tape binding Adam's ankles together while Sonya unlocks the handcuffs; April keeps an eye on the street behind them, a lookout for any unfortunate passerby.

"Hope the ride wasn't too rough," Sonya says to Adam, then adds with a sly grin, "Although, if that's your thing, I won't judge."

Adam just snorts before grabbing Jack's outstretched hand, helping him climb out of the trunk. "Sorry to disappoint, but no."

"Such a shame," Sonya sighs dramatically as she follows after April, leaving the two of them alone.

Maybe Jack really was worrying over nothing, since it looked like Adam wasn't pissed at Sonya.

"Everything alright? You've been pretty quiet."

At the sound of Adam's voice, Jack realizes he's still holding the redhead's callused hand and lets go of it.

"Yeah. Yeah, 'm fine, just—" Jack cuts himself off, scratches the back of his neck and heads for the van. "C'mon, we gotta switch the plates on Gary's car."

The van's rear doors swing open easily for once and Jack pries open the floor panel where they keep the box of license plates. Handing the box over to Adam, Jack grabs the screwdriver out of it.

"Don't always need to do this, but Gary's family is likely to call him in as missing in the next couple of days," Jack explains as he unscrews the Michigan plate. "Hand me one of the West Coasts."

"So where are we headed?" Adam asks as he rifles through the box.

"Gran's place. She'll probably have a better idea of how you're supposed to make your offering since we can't, y'know, ask Gary." The last Sloth hadn't been all that talkative about his yearly offerings; it was never something Gary had been proud of, now that Jack thinks about it. Gary was good at it, the way anyone is with years of practice, but he was the kind of guy who, while he cared about his Family, wanted to live a quiet life with his family.

A sourness settles behind Jack's ribs; he feels bad about what happened, but Gary knew the consequences.

\---

When they get back on the road, Sonya claims the backseat for herself, wrapped up in an old blanket that Gary (or his family) left behind, and Adam sits up front with Jack.

They've switched from the highway to backroads now that Adam isn't the trunk; April's idea, make it impossible for the redhead to figure out where they are on the off chance he decides to make a break for it. Jack doesn't think he will _('You mean you **hope** he won't,'_ April had sharply pointed out before she got back in the van with McCready and Sean), Sonya's confidence in how well she knows Adam thinks eases the writhing snakes of doubt in Jack's stomach. That this'll take Adam a while to get used to, to accept, and Jack understands that. Hell, Jack himself had _laughed_ when he joined all those years ago, absolutely sure that he was being punked.

(More like desperately hoping it was a prank, that Switch would pop out at any moment with a shit eating grin and a _'Gotcha, mate!'_ But it wasn't and he didn't, because Jack had—)

Adam hadn't. Laughed, that is. More common sense in his little finger than Jack has in his whole body. Of course, Jack had been kinda... _unhinged_ during that fun little rite of passage.

And now things are quiet between them, a full one-eighty to a few days ago before Jack punched Adam out at camp and things kicked off.

The radio is turned down low, most of the stations nothing more than garbled static with bits and pieces of words coming through, but he knows there's a mess of cassette tapes in the glove compartment. Most of it is music that was popular in the 80s, but it's better than the endless static and quiet.

Leaning over to pop it open, Jack can feel Adam's questioning gaze on the side of his face.

"Choose something, I'm not picky." And he's not; there wasn't really any time to mourn Gary, not that a lot of the Family _would_ since he turned traitor, but it felt wrong to not do _something_ to honor the guy's memory. Wrong that his family would mourn him but his Family wouldn't. Jack glances at Adam out of the corner of his eye every now and then, a bit of fondness worming its way through the sadness as Adam tries in vain to organize the chaotic mess; if the rules were different, Jack thinks Adam and Gary would've gotten along fine, made the Family feel more like it used to.

"How the fuck did he ever find anything in here," Adam mutters under his breath, exasperation clear in his voice.

Jack shrugs as he makes a left, the road going from crumbling asphalt to dirt. "Gary had a method to the madness. When he could be bothered to, anyway."

Eventually, Adam decides on a tape and the opening notes of _Rocket Man_ fill the car, volume kept low.

"Knew him for less than a minute, but I hope he's resting easy, wherever he is," Adam says with genuine sincerity.

Blinking back the sudden sting in his eyes and swallowing past the way his throat tightens, Jack nods.

A part of Jack finds himself wondering if maybe that's why Gary had decided not to join in on the Pilgrimage last year, if his fuse had finally burned up like the Rocket Man's, because he sure as hell wasn't the man they thought he was at home. Not with what the Family had to do, had to _provide,_ year after year.

None of them were. Are. Whatever.

With how dark it is around them, no moon in the sky, it almost feels like they're driving through a black hole at the end of the universe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not quite what i wanted, but i'm so tired of looking at this lmao i'll probably come back and edit/add to it later


End file.
